Creating an Accessible Emergency Response Plan: Guidelines for Federally Regulated Organizations

Effective emergency response is key to ensuring public health and safety. But people with disabilities can face barriers, and emergencies often make these barriers worse.

Ensure your emergency response for people with disabilities is the same as for everyone else and is available to everyone at the same time. This includes all types of emergencies, including COVID-19.

Federally regulated organizations need to make sure their services are accessible, even during emergencies. Be responsive to:

• the needs of your community, clients, and employees before emergencies occur
• the new barriers created by emergencies
• the changes needed to deliver your services in an accessible way
• the feedback you receive about accessibility from those who use your services

Creating or updating an emergency plan

Federally regulated organizations need to create emergency plans that will be accessible to all Canadians.

• Create a plan to continue to deliver your services during emergencies.
• Make sure you can deliver these services in a way that is safe for both your staff and your clients.
• Understand who uses your services and how. Identify alternative accessible services and notify your users in advance.
• Communicate your plan to the public.

Make sure your plan includes resources for helping with the recovery after an emergency. Communicate the details of this plan in in an accessible way.

Think about accessibility when developing or updating your emergency plan. This means considering the needs of all Canadians, including people with disabilities, when developing policies and services. Apply an accessibility lens when you do any of the following:

• develop emergency policies and procedures
• communicate with your employees and the public
• design and deliver services to the public
• design a new built environment (see: International Best Practices in Universal Design)
• plan for new construction or renovations
• buy goods or services

Consult people with disabilities. They are the experts and know what they need. Include them in the planning process. Find out if an emergency could make your organization inaccessible. Find out what barriers people with disabilities faced during the previous emergency. Find out how to remove these barriers.

Consult the public. Get feedback from the public on what barriers they might face in your emergency plan. Create a feedback option that is open to the public. Create accessible public online meetings and consultations. Use the lessons learned to update your emergency procedures.

Offer solutions. Accommodate people with disabilities. For example, COVID-19 public health measures require face masks. However, they can be a barrier to communication for a person who lip reads (also called speech reading). A safe and accessible service would be to keep a supply of masks with a clear plastic window that shows the mouth.

In addition:

• Update your training materials.
• Inform employees and volunteers of accessibility enhancements and emergency plans.
• Work with other federally regulated organizations to share lessons learned and improve emergency responses.

When creating or updating emergency plans, make sure that changes do not create new barriers to accessibility.

Learn from and incorporate best practices

Above all, it is your responsibility to provide accessible services. Still, there are best practices that people with disabilities can follow to prepare for an emergency and protect their personal health and safety during emergencies.

Take note of these best practices and be aware of how your organization could help with them. Use these practices to guide emergency planning or to help people with disabilities during emergencies. Make sure your employees also benefit from these practices.

Staff training

Helping people with disabilities. Train employees and volunteers to deliver services to people with disabilities during emergencies. Make sure staff are trained to communication with them respectfully and effectively. For example, ensure that communications materials portray people with disabilities appropriately.

Keeping co-workers safe. Train staff to provide accessible services and keep the workplace accessible for their co-workers during emergencies.

Keeping the public safe. Train staff to stay safe and to help all members of the public stay safe. Make sure employees and volunteers are knowledgeable about safety features during an emergency.

Keeping clients safe. Train staff or volunteers to help all clients, including people with disabilities, during emergencies. This should include:

• removing physical barriers
• how to accommodate and communicate with support people accompanying people with disabilities
• accommodating service animals
• having sign language interpreters always available

Evacuation planning

To evacuate a building safely, you need a plan to support the emergency egress of all staff members and the general public.

Make sure your emergency egress plan takes into account the safety of all people with disabilities. It might be necessary to develop a specific plan for certain employees or volunteers.

• Evacuating people who need assistance in an emergency

During an emergency

How an emergency impacts people can change quickly. Monitor the situation. If needed, adjust your response to stay accessible and still protect public health and safety. Also:

• Take note of any changes that are needed to ensure services remain accessible.
• Make sure your meetings are inclusive.

Ensure accessibility for employees

Accessibility also applies to employees and other members of your organization. People with disabilities should be able to work for your organization without facing barriers. This includes barriers that hinder their safety. Apply the same rules for barrier-free access to both the public and your own staff.

• How people with disabilities can protect themselves during an emergency

Look for needs specific to the emergency, such as how to make physical distancing easier for people with disabilities.

After an emergency

The lessons learned during an emergency will help you address future situations.

Review any notes you took during the emergency indicating the changes needed to improve accessibility. Also, review your emergency plans to determine what changes you should make. Review the following:

• Best practices for accessibility when working from home
• Accessible service delivery during emergencies
• Communication with the public:
  • Communication based on technology
  • Face-to-face communication
  • Printed, written, and visual information

Decide if accessibility enhancements added during the emergency should become permanent. But do not rely only on your own assessment. Seek feedback from the public, including:

• accessibility experts
• employees and volunteers
• people with disabilities
• others with experience using your accessibility features (enhancements)

After an emergency, update your plans. Make changes based on what you learned. Apply the lessons to create a new plan as soon as possible. Also:

• Get feedback on accessibility, especially from people with disabilities.
• Use informed feedback to improve your emergency response. Train your employees in the new approach.